by S. L. Walker
“Feisty?! What the fuck?” Treach was heated. “That better had been all you did!” He walked up to Angel, who had finally come to. She looked around, wondering where she was. Her first sight was Raven handcuffed to her chair and then Eva who had also been handcuffed.
“What’s going on?!” Her eyes finally met Treach.
“Hey, Green Eyes. We are just having a party,” he took her by the hand and led her away from the man and sat her down in the chair next to Eva. Angel was still trying to comprehend what was going on, she was still a little high from the knock out. He sat her down slowly and Nine walked up and hand cuffed her.
“Now you, missy,” Treach pointed to another seat next to Angel for Victoria. Victoria reluctantly sat down and let Nine handcuff her too. “Now that the gangs all here! We can get down to business! You can call your boss,” he told the Spanish men that had delivered his prizes.
DJ was entertaining Cash, when they got the call for him to come down. He wished he could stop it, but things were too heavy now and unless he wanted to look like Deon, he knew he had to play his part. DJ and Cash walked into the room; Cash with money in his eyes and a big black duffel bag.
“Que Paso. Finally,” Cash said in his heavy, Puerto Rican accent. Cash was a tall suave man. He had wavy short hair with a thin goatee. He wore a tall white outfit, straight Miami style, and wore nothing but shiny necklaces and rings. He smiled at the girls all sitting down, miserable, awaiting their fates. “Ohhhhh, you did nooooot liieee Mister Treach. They are stunning. What did you do to this one?” He pointed at Raven’s bruised face.
“I had a little trouble with her. She will clean up, though,” Treach bet. Cash shook his head in disapproval.
“I cannot deliver like this,” he used his index finger and tisked. “I need them all to be polished. Asap,” he demanded.
“Polished?” Treach couldn’t believe his ears. He wanted this shit to be over. He still had a body to get rid of and Cash was messing with his time.
“Polaco! Brillante! I cannot sale to my buyers. Look at her,” he then pointed at Victoria who was also a little bruised and had a slight cut on her lip from the gag from fighting off her kidnapper.
“That was your man’s being rough with the merchandise,” Treach argued.
“Do you wanna do business or no?!” Cash held up the bag for Treach to see what he would be missing out on. Treach couldn’t afford not to do the business, even if he wanted to now.
“Fine,” he gave in.
“You have until tomorrow. You give me somethin’ to look at,” Cash motioned for his boys to follow him. “Then we can do business,” he patted the bag as he walked out. DJ followed behind him, leaving Treach to wallow in his anger.
“Get Lila on the fucking phone,” he told Nine. He looked over at the girls who were all still trying to swallow what was going on and then he looked at Deon in the room. He needed to get rid of him, but things weren’t panning out just yet. He walked in the room and checked Deon’s breathing. It was still light and he had now passed out.
“West! Tell DJ to bring the first aid! Keep this nigga alive!” Treach rubbed his head. He saw West leave and Nine got off the phone with Lila.
“She said she’d be there in half an hour,” Nine told him.
“Good. Get them ready to cut,” Treach left, feeling uneasy.
Raven watched in small comfort as DJ put a couch pillow behind Deon’s head as he laid him flat on his back. She watched him open up a large First Aid bag and give him antibiotics. She watched him doctor his bruises and give him water. She had no idea he was that skilled in taking care of someone. DJ looked at her from time to time, but she would quickly look away. She was furious at him and he knew it. He felt that at least this would mend some of his betrayal. He was thankful he didn’t have to off Deon, because what Raven didn’t know, was that he had been the one responsible for making Deon look like this. Treach had him do it on purpose. With every blow, DJ could see Raven’s face and it pained him. Now, he was stitching the very wounds he created.
Nine broke Raven’s eyes as he uncuffed her from the chair. West did the same with the other girls, holding guns to the back of their heads.
“Let’s roll,” Treach told them. He peaked in at DJ. “Keep him good till I say otherwise,” he said low enough for Raven not to hear.
“What are you doing? Where are we going?” Raven asked, frantically, as they pushed her out of the room. She couldn’t be away from Deon. She was finally right next to him. West pushed her on, wanting to hit her, but knew he couldn’t put anymore hands on her. She was valuable merchandise now. Treach was already pissed that touching the girls was the reason Cash demanded them to look presentable now. He had mistaken Cash for a grimy nigga but Cash had class. He wouldn’t dare take some rough looking bitches with his money.
They pulled up to Lila’s mansion quickly and Lila, seductively, opened the door. The girls all looked at Lila with hope in their eyes, hoping she’d stop this madness. She guided them to a large roomy area upstairs, mostly made for hanging out. It was full of small red velvet love seats and a mini bar. She pointed towards the couches for the girls to have a seat. West, Nine, and Treach followed behind them.
“Y’all try anything, Ima make y'all brains match this couch,” Treach warned them and then gave Lila the floor.
Her white Prada heels clicked against the flat carpeted floor as she glided over to Raven in her silk white shirt and tight jeans, hugging her small curves. Her sweet perfume filled the room. Three of her worker kittens walked in, pushing different clothes racks and one girl had a makeup bag and shoes. Treach was impressed, but this is what Lila did. If it was one thing she knew how to do was make a girl desirable.
Although Lila agreed to this, she was taken back at what Treach wanted her to do. She had liked the girls from the moment she saw them the first time. She never would have thought Treach would have stooped this low, but word around was that they wanted to kill him.
“Well? So you can fix them up nice?” Treach interrupted the eerie silence that had filled the room.
“Yes, Treach,” she sighed. Her girls pulled different outfits and dresses off the rack and brought them to each girl without her saying a word. They pulled out makeup, shoes, and accessories. Lila looked at Raven who was worse off. “I’ll take her,” she stopped one of the girls from walking over to Raven; and instead she moved to Eva.
Treach watched like a hawk as Lila looked at the outfit she brought for Raven and put it back. He watched her shamble through the clothes on the rack before pulling out a jean dress outfit and peach colored heels.
“Can we get a little bit of privacy please,” she cringed at Treach breathing down her neck. She felt as if the men were watching her every move. “I can’t work with y'all down our backs,” she repeated when he didn’t make a move to exit.
“Fine, just fix them up,” Treach gave in and signaled for Nine and West to leave.
“Macky, please escort these gentlemen downstairs and make them comfortable. They will be fine,” she looked at Treach and pointed towards her own gun strapped in the back of her jeans. Treach smirked and then let the chocolate drop teenager lead them out of the room, closing the door.
“Boy, you girls really must’ve tried Treach for him to do all this to get rid of you,” she told Raven, taking out a moist towel and wiping the blood off of Raven’s lip and eye. Raven winced with pain.
“I didn’t do shit yet,” Raven said with so much assurance that it impressed Lila.
“Girl, how you get so bad?” Lila giggled and then smacked her teeth at the dried blood on Raven’s lip.“I can’t understand men that put their hands on women,” she shook her head. “Put this on,” she gave her the outfit she chose. One of the girls pulled out a red see-through tee and sports bra with leggings for Eva and showed it to Lila for approval.
“That looks her size, put that on,” Lila told her.
“Why are you doing this?” Eva was able to speak. She was afraid an
d she didn't get the vibe that Lila was with what was going on. She wanted to know.
“Because I was called to. See that purple bag over there,” Lila pointed at the small purple Louis Vuitton bag she had brought in. “That thing is gonna be filled with money, just for dressing y'all up and making you pretty for these Puerto Ricans,” she confessed. Raven’s lip quivered in anger as she put on the jean dress. She wanted to kick the shit out of Lila and then make a break for it. She looked over at Angel and Tori who were all changing into different clothes and getting their makeup done.
“So you’re no different from Treach,” Raven said, boldly. Lila looked at her disrespected.
“Oh I am very different,” she kneeled reaching for a red lipstick. “I would've just killed you,” she smirked.
Angel began to sob a little and tried to wipe her eyes.
“Oh no girly ya gonna mess ya eyelina up,” the young girl, who was doing her makeup, told her in a Brooklyn accent.
“I wanna. I wanna go home. Don’t let him do this to us,” Angel cried. Raven’s heart dropped and she got up out her seat, leaving Lila in mid lipstick application. Lila didn’t stop her, but instead, stood up and watched her. Raven hugged Angel and then took her by the shoulders. The Brooklyn girl stood aside and looked at Lila who gave her permission to let them be.
“Angie, listen to me. I ain’t letting nothing else happen to us. I’m not letting that fool sell us to nobody. You hear me?” She looked in Angel’s watery eyes and wiped her tears. “Stop crying and be strong for me. I will get us out of this,” Raven told her and looked at Victoria and Eva as well when she said it. Lila sat back and watched in admiration.
“Yea Angel, fuck him. We got this,” Victoria added, while the girl did her gold eyeshadow matching the gold sweater dress and boots she put on her. Lila smirked.
“I don’t get down with men abusing the female body. Why do you think I charge them bastards what I do to touch my girls? We have the power here. And that’s all you have to remember. Men are easy. Gullible. Predictable. You have to use what you got and then, hit them where it hurts,” Lila preached. They all looked at her surprised at her confident advice; even her kittens were impressed at her dose of guidance. She waved for Raven to come back to her seat. Raven got up and sat back down and let Lila put the rest of her lipstick on.
Lila softened her voice more. “Treach is easy. And he is getting weaker and messy. You girls were a small weakness of his and he didn’t even know it. Here,” she gave Raven a paper towel to pat her lipstick.
“I am going to tell you this and only this. Weaken him and you will have him,” Lila told them, almost slyly. That’s all she needed to say to the girls. Lila wasn’t a bad person, she was a woman at the end of the day in a business full of men. She watched men try to disrespect her and her girls. She watched men try to hurt them, just to make themselves feel inferior. She could even see Reggie slowly trying to take over what she started. She knew about the money and the diamonds Treach gave Reggie. She knew that it was Treach’s way of keeping Reggie at the tip of his finger, but also one up on her. Treach was slick but she was slicker. These girls were different and although she wouldn’t dare step foot over Treach without a well thought out plan. She’d be there to keep him down when he did fall.
ZARA
I was decked out in my fluorescent Adidas windbreaker, black leggings and matching fluorescent UGG boots as I walked into my hotel room in California that my dad had got me. The weather was great, a whopping 75 degrees and sunny. My dad had flown me to Cali in a private jet while he did business for Christmas. He had given me his credit card to go shopping. I opened the suite windows and gazed down over the San Francisco city. The fog had just started rolling in, creeping over the street lights and making them disappear into the clouds. He had promised he would show me the shop later on that evening when he had got back.
KNOCK KNOCK.
I scurried over to the door and looked out the peephole. A slender, sexy, middle aged, caucasian woman with a blonde bun stood on the other side.
Who the hell is this?
I opened the door slightly, ready to pop a bitch in the mouth if I had to. The lady’s bright blue eyes lit up and her full straight teeth gleamed.
“Zara! Hi! I’m August! Your dad’s business partner. He told me to come check on you and introduce myself,” she radiated for no reason. “Can I come in?”
“Sure,” I said, slowly opening the door and letting her in. I still didn’t trust her and still was ready to pop a bitch.
“This suite is nice! I recommended this hotel. They have great breakfast downstairs,” she blabbered.
“So you’re my dad's business partner?” I questioned her, looking her up and down at her expensive plain black dress and black red bottoms.
“Oh yes! We run the shop together. It’s also a salon. It’s coming along so nicely! I can’t wait till the grand opening,” she made her way around the room as if she was checking for something. A part of me wondered if she knew what my dad did and the reason behind the business?
“There’s some water and stuff in that refrigerator, I think,” I told her, letting it be known I was watching her nosy ass.
“Oh! No! I am fine, just making sure everything is up to par here. Your father wouldn’t have it any other way,” she told me, finally walking up to me. “So! Shall we shop?! Theres a huge mall downtown we can tear up! And then we go see your father!” She told me. She noticed the credit card on the table and picked it up, before I could say anything she opened the door.
“Come on, let’s go before we lose all of our sun!” She hurried me to join her. Without a word I grabbed my small purse and followed this stranger out.
CHAPTER 37
Kaitlin didn’t like the site of Treach, Nine and West in their guest house room being catered to by three of the kittens. She was able to creep by without Treach noticing her, but not before she saw them devouring slices of fruit and taking shots of expensive cognac. The girls were treating them like Kings, an act they were professionally trained to do.
She hurried up to the room she figured Lila was in. The door was closed so she knocked but walked in before Lila invited her. Lila turned around, pissed, as she was watching the other girls finish getting dressed.
“Kaitlin you know better,” she fussed as soon as she saw it was her.
“What’s going on? Why is Treach here?” Kaitlin asked, closing the door behind her. It didn’t take long before she answered her own question. The girls all stood there in new clothes and makeup halfway finished. “No.”
“Let’s talk,” Lila began to excuse themselves from the room.
“It’s okay, anything you say to me, you can say in front of them. Are they being prostituted?” Kaitlin asked in fear of what was happening. She didn’t want this to happen to the girls. She was afraid of this and thought that Treach would never stoop that low.
“Not by me, sweety,” Lila was saddened to say. At least if Lila was to purchase the girls, she could give them back to their family and although it crossed her mind, it wasn't that easy. If it was just one girl, like Kaitlin, she would have, but four girls would be a lot of money to repurchase, especially after Cash already had his offer. And, she wasn’t about to lose out on money.
“Then who?” Kaitlin couldn’t possibly know who else Treach would sell them out to.
“Treach has his own plans for them now. They stepped over the line and now paying the price. But, I think they have it under control,” Lila looked back at Raven and smiled.
“What? What happened? Raven, what happened?” Kaitlin stepped over to Raven. She could see the courage in Raven’s eyes. “No, no. I got dirt on Treach we can take him to the police,” Kaitlin blabbed to Raven. “ I saw what happened, Vee. I can turn him-” before she could say another word, Lila slapped the shit out of her.
“You shut that shit up now!” Lila pointed her finger at her, daring her to say something stupid like that again. “My girls ain’t snitches! A
nd I have my own fucking plan for you!” Lila’s eyes rained fire. Kaitlin touched her face, tears welding, but she never let them drop. “These girls gotta be women about their shit! It ain’t yo business! We are ladies and we are gonna act like ladies. Not fucking snitches!” Lila clinched her teeth. Stressed, she walked away from Kaitlin over to the mini bar in the corner of her room and poured her self a double shot. Kaitlin stayed quiet.
“I am sorry I hit you,” Lila said as the shot calmed her nerves.
“Done,” the Brooklyn girl said. The girls were all made up and transformed. Cash wouldn’t dare turn them away now. Lila walked over to them one by one as if they were her girls and then to Kaitlin.
“I need you to be Reggie’s right hand bitch for me,” she told Kaitlin straight up. Kaitlin began to detest. “Uh uh,” Lila stopped her. “I need you to be my eyes. Don’t worry, you will stay under my protection, but you will be moving with him. Go pack your things, you leave tomorrow,” Lila told her just like that. Kaitlin saddened and looked at the girls.
“I’m so sorry,” she mouthed to all of them and ran out of the room. Lila turned back to the girls.
“Y’all are ready. Remember. Be his weakness,” she put her hand out and escorted the girls back downstairs, grabbing her purple bag.
The girls all single file lined into the guest room the men were drinking in. By now, rap music was playing and Nine even had one of the girls on his lap. Lila cleared her throat interrupting their randevu.
“Now, that's what I’m talking about!” Treach was amazed at how awake the girls looked. Makeup did wonders. They all had on their own unique style of clothes and his heart grew warm to Angel’s beautiful face again. Lila had her in a green dress that brought out her eyes and had her hair tied up in a bun and green glitter eyeshadow. He hated that he had to let her go.
“Fuck tomorrow, get Cash back to the warehouse, now,” he snapped at Nine. Lila’s kittens dismissed themselves.